Editorial: Bones of contention at the state Capitol

The Pennsylvania General Assembly sings a different version of that old spiritual song.

In the spiritual, the bones all connect to make a living human being.

In the state Capitol, the bones of contention in various pieces of legislation are all discombobulated -- with no rational connection to one another. Put them all together and you wind up with a monstrous mess that you might call a Frankenbill.

For example, let's take a look at House Bill 1177. If we presented that bill “Dem Bones” style, it might go something like this:

The school reform commission bone is connected to the home rule charter bone. The home rule charter bone is connected to the CRIZ expansion bone. The CRIZ expansion bone is connected to the hotel tax increase bone. The hotel tax increase bone is connected to the Philadelphia cigarette tax increase bone. Etc.

None of these things are much like the others. Why are they all jammed together in one bill?

Well, that's the way things work in the let's-make-a-deal crucible of Harrisburg. I'll support your pet project if you'll support mine. We'll just throw all these soup bones in the old political pot -- despite a state Constitution edict that “no bill shall be passed containing more than one subject.”

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York County Commissioner Chris Reilly described that process well in a story last week: “They can't look at the legislation on its face value. (It's) the typical idiocy that takes place in Harrisburg on a day-to-day basis.”

HB 1177 is actually pretty important to York County because it includes the language that would allow the commissioners to increase the hotel tax from 3 percent to 5 percent. That would allow them to pump an extra $700,000 into efforts to boost tourism -- an important and growing industry here.

But the prospects for passage of the bill – which also would have allowed Philadelphia to use a higher smoke tax to fund schools – were looking dim last week. Too many disparate bones tacked together.

It would make so much more sense to vote on each proposal separately – judging each on its own merit. We can dream of a day when the General Assembly reforms itself in such a manner.

Meanwhile, the failure to pass HB 1177 has led to a local political catfight. Mr. Reilly praised Sen. Scott Wagner for having the “intestinal fortitude” to attach the hotel tax to HB 1177 in June – knocking other local lawmakers for failing to advance an effort that's been kicking around since 2009. “He got something accomplished that the rest of the guys that have been there for 20 years couldn't,” Mr. Reilly said.

Wait. Wasn't he just complaining about these bony bills?

Anyway, Rep. Saylor shot back that Mr. Reilly himself caused the previous failures of the hotel tax hike by sticking his nose into Harrisburg politics.

Meow!

P.S. While we're throwing bones of contention around: It seems odd that someone such as Sen. Wagner, who ran an anti-government, anti-tax campaign, would go to bat for a hotel tax increase as one of his first efforts in the Capitol.